Instinct
by WinterSky101
Summary: Bucky goes to give himself up to the Avengers and meets one of their newest members. Something about the boy sparks memories he didn't know he had.


**One day, I had the idea of Bucky helping Pietro, and the idea refused to go away. This is 100% not _Captain America: Civil War_ compliant, but it is mostly _Avengers: Age of Ultron_ compliant, except for the fact that Pietro survived being shot. I hope you enjoy!**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own the MCU.**

* * *

Stark Tower - Avengers Tower - looks much taller from right outside than it does from across the city.

Bucky looks up at the tower, then refocuses on the doors in front of him. _There are three easy ways in that he's analyzed so far: he can go around the back and through the vent-_ Bucky shuts down the voice of the Soldier in his head and steps forward. The doors slide open and Bucky steps into the building. To his surprise, no alarms go off, but he ducks his head anyway. The sleeves of his coat are just long enough to hide his metal arm, and his baseball cap shadows his face enough that he's not easily recognizable. His hair is tied in a ponytail, both to keep it out of his face and to make him look less like the pictures of him as the Winter Soldier.

There's no one in the lobby, and no one tries to stop Bucky as he goes over to the elevator and steps in. _Intel tells him that living quarters begin on the twenty-fourth floor. If he gets off the elevator early he can have the advantage of surprise when he reaches the living quarters-_ Bucky hits the button for the twenty-fourth floor and the elevator begins to rise. It won't give him the element of surprise, but he doesn't need it. Bucky isn't here to fight the Avengers. He's here to give himself up to them.

The elevator dings at the twenty-fourth floor and Bucky steps out cautiously. He gets the distinct feeling that he's not supposed to be there, but no one's stopped him yet, so he keeps going. The whole floor seems to be deserted and for a moment, Bucky wonders if his intel was wrong. Perhaps the living quarters don't start at the twenty-fourth floor after all.

Then Bucky turns a corner and enters a living room, and there's a pale figure sleeping on the couch.

The boy can't be older than twenty. Despite that, his hair is silver. _Name: Pietro Maximoff, AKA Quicksilver, AKA one of Strucker's Enhanced test subjects. Powers: Super speed. Weaknesses_ \- Bucky shoves the Soldier away again and takes a cautious step towards the couch. Immediately, Pietro's bright blue eyes fly open. He looks around wildly for a moment, then he sees Bucky.

"Who are you?" he asks warily, trying to push himself upright. He's moving as if he's been shot. Bucky would guess he was hit by at least seven bullets, at least half of them to his chest. _Files do not indicate an ability to survive multiple gunshot wounds to the chest. Maximoff is an unknown variable. May hinder ability to complete mission_ \- Except there's no mission to complete, and Bucky won't be fighting with the boy.

"I'm here to see Steve," Bucky rasps.

Pietro looks confused. "Are you a friend of his?"

Bucky laughs harshly. It sounds painful. It is, a little bit. "You could say that."

Pietro pushes himself further upright, then his face goes even paler than it was before and he begins to cough, doubling over. Bucky moves on long-buried instinct he didn't know he had. He sits down on the couch behind Pietro, bracing the boy's body against Bucky's own chest. "Breathe with me, punk," he says quietly. Something in him wants to rub Pietro's chest, but he doubts that'll do much good, all things considered. "Breathe with me." Pietro is still coughing, but with less intensity than before.

Bucky remembers a boy, skinnier than Pietro and infinitely skinnier than Bucky, who coughed all winter long and had to be soothed against Bucky's chest like this at least once a day. Tea with honey would have helped, but that was a luxury they couldn't afford. Water did the job almost as well.

Bucky grabs the cup of water that's sitting on the table next to the couch and holds it up to Pietro's lips, urging him to drink. He spits out the first mouthful as his chest spasms, but he's able to swallow the next sip and the one after that. His coughing fit seems to have ended, leaving Pietro exhausted. He goes limp against Bucky's chest, his skin sweaty. Bucky can see bandages on his chest, revealing that he was right and the boy somehow survived being shot repeatedly in the chest.

"You feeling better?" Bucky asks quietly. Pietro nods tiredly. Bucky rocks himself forward and backwards a little. Steve always laughed when Bucky did that and told him that he really was babying him if he was rocking him like a cradle. Pietro doesn't laugh and he doesn't protest; he just leans back against Bucky's chest and breathes, shaky and somewhat shallow but no longer interrupted by coughs.

A man enters the room, muttering something under his breath. _Name: Anthony "Tony" Stark, AKA Iron Man. Powers: suit of armor made of gold-titanium alloy. Weakness: no powers without the suit. Son of Howard and Maria Stark-_ Bucky freezes like a deer in the headlights when Stark's eyes fix on him.

"FRIDAY?" Stark demands. "We really need to update your security protocols."

 _"The intruder did not appear to be a threat, sir,"_ a disembodied female voice replies. Bucky listens curiously; he thought Stark's AI was called JARVIS and spoke in a male, accented voice. Apparently, that intel is out of date.

"Next time, let me assess that," Stark grumbles. "Who are you?"

"I'm here to see Steve," Bucky tells Stark, just like he told Pietro.

Stark's eyes narrow. "Why?" he asks. Bucky doesn't answer.

Stark takes a step forward and his eyes go wide. "FRIDAY! Alert the other Avengers that we have a situation here. We have an assassin in the building. And not one that's supposed to be here." Stark does something to the watch on his wrist and a glove for his suit forms over his hand. He holds his hand up, the repulser pointing at Bucky.

"Step away from the kid," he demands. Bucky does as he's told, gently propping Pietro up on his pillows and taking a step back.

"What's going on?" Pietro asks, looking from Bucky to Stark.

"This is the Winter Solider, HYDRA's secret assassin," Stark tells Pietro, never taking his eyes off Bucky.

Pietro frowns. "He does not seem much like an assassin," he remarks. "If we were, would we not be dead already?"

"He's HYDRA," Stark says.

Pietro looks mulish. "So was I," he retorts. "Are you going to point that thing at me now?"

Stark glares at Pietro. "I understand you don't like me, but can you put that aside for five seconds so we can deal with the assassin in the room?"

"He helped me," Pietro replies stubbornly. He makes a movement like he's going to get up, then visibly pales and thinks better of it. "I do not think he needs dealing with."

Steve rushes into the room a minute later, dressed in a t-shirt and khakis and holding his shield. "Tony, FRIDAY told me we had an intruder-" he begins, then he sees Bucky. "Oh my god."

"Steve," Bucky whispers. He can't think of what to say next. He's spent so long trying to get his head straight enough to go after Steve that he hasn't thought of what he would do when he finally reached him.

"Um," Stark begins as Steve drops his shield and crosses the room to Bucky. "Am I the only one who thinks that the _Winter freaking Soldier_ might be incredibly dangerous?" Steve pulls Bucky into a hug, and it's both entirely different and completely the same as the hugs he used to give. "Guess I am," Stark mutters, sounding distinctly petulant.

"You're back," Steve whispers, his face buried in Bucky's neck.

Bucky tentatively hugs him back with his human arm, his metal one dangling at his side. "I'm back," he agrees.

"I told you he was not a threat," he hears Pietro say, sounding smug.

"Shut up," Stark mutters. Bucky doesn't think he's won him over yet. He doesn't blame him. He hadn't thought he would win anyone over this easily.

But he's at home in Steve's arms, and even though he knows he has no right to be there, he doesn't want to leave.


End file.
